Trees that are girdled by deer, rodents or other pests almost always die as a result. A major objective of the invention is to find a way of saving the lives of girdled trees and other plants.
Many amorphous compositions have been in commercial use for protecting trees and shrubs. The paste type protectant which has to be put on the plant by means of a spatula or brush is time-consuming to apply, may be washed away over time and has other disadvantages. For example, coating thickness will vary so that results are inconsistent. By contrast, the present invention is concerned with the provision of a protective wrap in sheet form to be supplied either as cut sheets or in rolls which can be wrapped onto a plant, e.g., around a stem or trunk, or otherwise applied to the surface of the plant to prevent death or damage after the plant has been girdled; i.e., the bark has been removed all the way around the stem or trunk.
A tree wrap has been available as a self-wound roll of tape with a sticky gum-based adhesive on one surface for bonding the wrap to the plant. While useful for preventing sun scald, there has been no suggestion that the wrap would benefit girdled trees, shrubs or other plants.
It is a general objective of the invention to furnish a protective wrap for plants which can be provided either as cut sheets or in the form of a roll and which will keep girdled trees from dying.
Another object is to provide a wrap for preventing damage to girdled trees with an optional biologically active protective agent that can, if desired, be molecularly dispersed within a flexible hydrophilic layer which is applied to a tape backing and is adapted to swell upon being exposed to atmospheric moisture for releasing the protective agency into the environment to thereby provide controlled release for the protective agency, either onto the surface of the plant or onto the outside surface of the tape.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,766,695 describes a tape for banding trees which comprises a film such as polyethylene coated with an elastomeric adhesive on one side. On the other side is a separate coating which is toxic to insects. One adjunct that can be used, if desired, with the present invention is a biologically active substance such as a pesticide. When one is used, it is an objective of the present invention to provide a protective wrap in sheet form or as a wound roll of tape wherein all active constituents are contained in a single pressure-sensitive, i.e., tacky, coating which bonds the wrap to the plant and contains the biologically active protective composition such a deer, rodent or insect repellant.
It has been proposed, for example in European patent application 0 367 140 A2, to disperse a repellant, e.g., a flea repellant, in a water insoluble copolymer such as ethylene/vinyl acetate copolymer for making a dog collar in which the copolymer serves both as a carrier for an insect repellant and a sheet of material which forms the collar. By contrast, it is an object of the present invention to employ a strong, flexible backing in sheet form to provide structural strength and to give the protective wrap its shape, allowing it to be supplied in a sheet or roll form together with a separate hydrophilic matrix that can, if desired, be used as a reservoir for the biologically active protective composition.
These and other more detailed and specific objects of the invention will be apparent in view of the following specification which illustrates by way of example but a few of the various forms of the present invention that will be apparent to those skilled in the art within the scope of the appended claims.